We must be ready and willing to change.

This week gone I had a conversation with a member of my class. We were reflecting on how a person can find the strength and inspiration to positively change themselves.

I shared with her the sentiment of Paramahansa Yogananda who said that if you want to be unhappy no one in the world can make you happy, and that if you want to be truly happy nothing in the world can hold you back from that.

Once we hold a vision for ourselves and do not compromise it - then it comes to us. We create and attract it from our own inner power.

The first step to creating any change, and in this particular case to creating better wellness for ourselves is to have a vision. That means as well that we must be ready to change ourselves. We have to confront the reality that if I am looking for some kind of change in my life then I must be willing to change my habits, perspectives, and way of living. That was the focus of our first session in our Weight Loss for Wellness Program.

How do we see ourselves?

Personal Vision requires a certain degree of self reflection and self knowledge. We have to work towards knowing ourselves better. One way that we can do this is by asking ourselves questions and honestly answering them. This is a huge part of the practice of yoga - it is the practice of being more conscious of what we are holding within us.

These are some of the questions that I asked my group this week. Try them out for yourself and see what comes to you. Remember it is not a superficial asking, but a deep and genuine curiosity to find out what you think and feel.

What do I want for myself?

How do I want to look and how do I want others to see me?

What do I want in my life?

What experiences do I want in each day?

Am I ready for a different kind of life and new experiences?

As we explore the answers that come to us we get a better picture of ourselves. This is the cultivation of self-knowledge. From that self-knowledge we can now consciously decide our next step and the direction that we would like our lives to go in. ​

What do we want in our lives?

For many people we come to a point where we start to take charge of our lives and decide, this is what I want. That is how we begin looking for better wellness or perhaps start seeking spiritually. In the case of this program we decided that we want better wellness through weight management.

After we know for ourselves, "this is what I want," now we have to create that experience in our lives. To start off energizing the personal vision of wellness I encouraged my group to use an affirmation. We practiced it as a group to make it more powerful. Each person was given an opportunity to say the affirmation out loud to the group, who then energized it through positive acceptance, approval and encouragement.

My health is my priority. ​My happiness is my priority.​I am in charge of my life.

This may seem like a very simple practice, but it is affecting us on many different levels. We are psychologically, emotionally, and socially reinforcing the direction we want our lives to take. It also works the subtle energy body, creating a new possibility for us on a level that is beyond the physical.

Yoga is all about working on many different levels and certainly we want to open up the possibility of working with every dimension of life. When we can work with out subtle energy - suddenly we have many more options for transforming ourselves.

Saying an affirmation is just one of the ways that we can begin working beyond the physical.​

Repetition and Discipline Adds to the Energy of our Vision.

Once we have established our vision we must nurture it for it to grow. We can energize our vision by repeating our affirmation every day and by doing small activities that contribute towards achieving our vision. It is important for us to sustain our interest and attention - because that is the flow of energy towards the the vision.

It is just like a plant that we must remember to water each day. We just need to stay with the discipline of nurturing the vision continuously to create that life experience. In this way it does not have to be a dramatic and absolute change in single day. Rather it is a methodical process of growing into our vision.

If you have a vision of yourself leading a different life experience - you have all the power to create it within yourself. Start with a simple affirmation and begin energizing it everyday. Soon it will begin resonating with the Universe and that experience will grow within you. This is using the subtle energy possibilities of our being.